The Chikamori Legacy
by CdnJAGScribe
Summary: The generational saga of Haruo and River and their descendants from Sunset Valley and beyond.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue:**_

_**June 12, 1970; Sacred Spleen Hospital, Sunset Valley, British Columbia, Canada**_

Fiona McIrish had never been in so much pain in her life. As a matter of fact, she believed she'd never felt this degree of pain before even when menstruating. This was sheer agony, like having one's bottom lip pulled out ten feet then yanked over one's head and stapled to the back of one's neck; it was that excruciating. In fact, she felt that she could probably tolerate stepping on a stone-fish more than she could endure the birthing process that she was undergoing at this very moment. And she was alone.

Caeden had removed himself from the picture nine months earlier when she'd informed him of her pregnancy. In fact, he'd vanished so quickly, he'd left skid marks on the pavement and a smell of smoke in the air. His loss. The pain and devastation from the fact that he'd abandoned her had given way to pain unimaginable as Fiona had never been pregnant before.

And it was a long sixteen hours of labour having been brought by ambulance to the Sacred Spleen Hospital at four o'clock in the morning after rupture of the amniotic sac in the middle of the night. It was now eight o'clock at night.

Doctor Ellis, a female obstetrician, smiled at her, "You're ten centimeters dilated and the baby has moved into the birth canal. Your contractions should be coming between 2-3 minutes apart. We'll get you to push as soon as I determine where your baby is situated." She said snapping on a set of shoulder length medical examination gloves.

Fiona's eyes widened.

"Now. I'm going to need you to relax...because I'm going to have to feel around in here." Oh...god...Fiona winced as the doctor slipped her hand in to feel around for the baby's head. "She's in a good position..." The doctor looked up at her, her smiling face between Fiona's own thighs and knees.

"I...hope...aaaaahhhh.." The last word was bitten off as another contraction hit replaced by a pained groan. Dimly in the back of her mind, she could hear the scream of yet another mother in another birthing room and the cry of a newborn.

The rest of the memory of childbirth was washed away in a sea of pain as the doctor exhorted her to "push...now..."

_**June 13, 1970. Nursery, Sacred Spleen, Sunset Valley, BC**_

Fiona McIrish looked down at the perfect little human being that was laying in the crib labelled River Annette McIrish, River, because Fiona had always liked that name, Annette for Fiona's mother. Beside her on the left hand side was another baby from an Asian family; her landlord's family with whom she was sharing a room. The father, Yasunobu, was at the cribside looking down at that child with a smile playing about his lips. Fiona felt a pang of pain. At least that father had the guts to stay with the mother and support his offspring. I wish Caeden wasn't so gutless as to have abandoned River and me. Fiona thought to herself, a flash of anger aimed at the absent Caeden. The baby was a cute little one and Fiona watched Yasunobu interact with his child.

Was it chance that the man's baby, a son, was placed by her daughter's natal crib? As Yasunobu placed his son back in his crib beside River's crib, River started to fuss. As if by predetermined signal, Yasunobu's baby rolled to one side to face her daughter...his newborn eyes still closed. The baby waved his hands in the air...as if reaching for her crying newborn infant...and gradually, River's fussing subsided to a sniffle. Fiona was amazed as she looked over at her landlord whose eyebrows had nearly receded into his hairline which was a miracle in itself as the man kept his hair short.

"My son...like your baby..." was all Yasunobu said.

Fiona was dumbstruck. When she could speak, she nodded, "I guess so..." was her reply. They both quietly looked down upon their mutual children as the two babies laid in their crib. Fiona had a feeling that she was going to see a lot of the little male baby over the following years and both she and Yasunobu stood together in silence contemplating a future that they had yet to take a single step down.

**June 14, 1970, Nursery, Sacred Spleen, Sunset Valley, BC**

Fiona nodded to the doctor as the doctor gave her last minute care instructions on how to care for the remnants of the severed umbilical cord which would eventually shrivel up and fall off to form a belly button.

"Make sure that you're gentle when you apply the vaseline to the site of the cord." the doctor informed her as she wrapped the baby in a blanket placing a hood on the baby's head to keep the baby who was still trying to regulate her own boby temperature out of the sun. Gus and Dorie Hart had offered to help her get River home. The baby fussed slightly as the blanket was wrapped around her.

Dorie mentioned to Fiona, "We still have the carseat from when Bebe came home, hitched to the back seat of the car...so at least we can help you get her home safely." Child safety restraint in the seventies were the realm of choice of the parent. The parent could choose to place the child in a safety-restraint, or they could choose to hold the child, provided that they weren't driving. Bebe was a year old already and was learning how to crawl and Dorie had her hands full. This, being 1970, meant that a lot of people believed in the goodness of the community and everyone pitched in to help. It was why Fiona and Dorie got along so well. They helped each other, Dorie would need Fiona to run and fetch groceries when Bebe was being particularly trying and Dorie would help Fiona with River and babysitting when Fiona returned to work from maternity leave.

Less so community oriented were the Altos who lived up in the posh neighbourhood with the large houses. The Altos aspired to West Vancouver eliteness with the mega-mansions, however they were small potatoes compared to the likes of the Landgraabs who were old Vancouver money but chose to live a less prestigious life in Sunset Valley. It was oft suspected that Nick Alto was somehow connected and few dared to cross him. Those who did often were taught a lesson at the hands of some of his friends.

Anyhow, what the Altos did was none of Fiona's business and she set to making sure that River was taken care of, fed, pampered, and kept clean. Yasunobu and her had had a discussion that she would do what she could to get some money together and eventually, she would purchase the home from the Chikamoris and that would be her place to live and where River would be able to grow up.

It was a possibility that she could never have thought was possible. And she was grateful for any help that she could possibly receive.


	2. Chapter One - A Long History

"Sims 3" - The Chikamori Legacy

Author: CdnJAGScribe

E-mail:

Rating: M

Classification:

Spoilers: all Sims 3 (base-game and EPs)

Summary: The generational saga of Haruo and River and their descendants from Sunset Valley and beyond.

DISCLAIMER: Sims 3 is the property of Electronic Arts/Maxis – and the wonderful brainchild of Will Wright. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended. River McIrish, Fiona McIrish, Molly and Sandi French and all associated Sims characters (both playable and NPC) are the property of EA/Maxis.

Generation One

Chapter One

It had been a good eighteen years since Fiona had been a single pregnant young woman on the verge of giving birth wondering if she could make it on her own. And now her daughter was on the cusp of young womanhood.

River was strong-willed, a perfectionist which meant that she was diligent in her schoolwork and not prone to doing anything but her very best at academics. Getting good grades would stand her in good stead if she wanted to pursue her life goals. And she had studied intensively when she wasn't hanging out with her best friend. Her aim was to stay on honour roll all the way to graduation - that would give her a fighting chance at obtaining a scholarship to UBC.

Looking back at her life Fiona thought to herself that it had been a long tough slog for her. Having to go to night-school to get enough education to pursue a career as a journalist was hard especially when her daughter was an infant and needed taking care of. But she had wanted a better life for River and thus she scrimped, saved, went hungry so that she could get food for River and have enough left over for tuition. Luckily she was able to have a few friends who would help her along the way.

Considering that she was a beautiful woman, she had no shortage of suitors. But asides from a few dalliances to; indelicately put; scratch an itch, she abstained from getting into a relationship.

~flashback~

There had been another young baby at the natal care centre that River was at when she was born and their bassinets had been side by side. And it had turned out that the young infant beside her daughter's bassinet; during her stay in the natal centre, always seemed to reflexively move towards her daughter's side of the crib when she cried as if to comfort her. The nurses said that it was an involuntary startle reflex with nothing more behind it, but Fiona liked to think that there was something more to that. But all too soon she and River discharged from the birthing centre ward and headed home to start their new life together as mother and daughter. And all was forgotten as they were too busy trying to raise their two respective children to wonder about the curious interaction between the two infants.

Other than one conversation that they had regarding what the state of the house finances was, she didn't recall much interaction other than "Thank you for month's rent." when she paid the monthly rent. Except for one conversation that was in regards to the dissolution of the rental situation...and a formal talk about what was going to happen to the house. Yasunobu had offered up a solution that he thought would be equitable for both sides.

"You need place to live..." Yasunobu had said. "But you also need own house for River sake, ne..." Ne pronounced neh was the Japanese way of saying, y'know. "Maybe you own this house?"

"I'd love to, Yasunobu, but the price of this house is completely out of my price range."

"Hmmmm...maybe we solve problem..." Yasunobu said "You pay month rent...not much higher maybe one hundred more month...we put half rent; half payment; you pay over ten year...then you own house."

And that was that, She paid §1000 a month in rent and half of that money went towards ownership of the house. And Yasunobu had been as good as his word. Every month that went by, he'd deposit half the rent money in a separate bank account to accumulate interest and each rent that Fiona had paid him he split in two and put one half in the bank account and the other half was for him and Mayumi. He'd show Fiona every month how much had accumulated towards her equity in the house.

It was two years hence, from the date of that table conversation. Yasunobu was busy himself, making sure that the mortgage on the Asilomar was paid off monthly. Fiona had never seen such a diligently hard worker as he was.

The Chikamoris and Fiona McIrish got up early on Monday morning since Fiona and Mayumi had work. Mayumi was a high-school teacher subjugating her students to mental torture. She truly had no interest in teaching other than the power-trip that it gave her to be in control of a classroom of thirty students every hour and being able to subject their very educational whims to her wanton mercies. Jocks quailed at the thought of having to subject themselves to a class with Mrs. Chikamori. She, on the other hand, enjoyed humiliating those "big, dumb apes..." as she was wont to call them, exhorting them to exert their educational efforts or be left behind stuck driving a 70 Pinto delivering pizza for the rest of their lives as pathetic failures of the British Columbia Educational system.

Fiona on the other hand, enjoyed her employment, being a freelance writer. Which meant submitting articles written to the paper as well as books, writing reviews on places where she'd been and simply writing about anything of note within the community. Her place of employment was Doo Peas Business Tower where anyone who was either in business or journalism had a desk or office in the building. It was interesting to note that the Vancouver Province had accepted a few of her submissions and she was thus able to establish her credentials as a freelance writer. It would help bring in some income.

Yasunobu had, on a whim, since he was stuck at home minding the two toddlers, that he would go take the two to Central Park. There he would meet up with Fiona after her shift at work as a Freelance Reporter. And it would make for a nice day out for the two young toddlers; a nice sunny morning, warm temperatures and hardly anyone at the park. He noticed some trees out there in the park that had fruit ripe for the picking, so he was going to use the time that Haruo and River sat and played with each other to harvest some of the trees. He'd noticed that there were lemons and he was quite willing to learn how to make key lime pie which was absolutely a delicacy. There were a lot of plants out in the park that would work for bringing in extra income. So before they ventured to the park, he told both River and Haruo to play with the block table while he went out and worked on the garden. Needless to say both toddlers behaved themselves and they were able to make their way to the park.

Haruo and River's time at the park was quite interesting and they would probably need baths as well since they were busy pawing around in the grass as well as in the dirt. Toddlers get into all sorts of things so that was par for the course for bringing them to the park. When they started getting fussy, Yasunobu started packing them up and headed for home. After bath-time, the two toddlers ended up playing at the block-table. Tomorrow, Yasunobu would work on their talking and walking.

After all, having played in the sand-box at the park, Haruo and River had both managed to get themselves covered in sand, both in their clothes, as well as in their hair when they each tried to toss several handfuls straight up in the air and it showered down all over them. What a mess. When he'd finished bathing the two little toddlers who had gotten themselves into quite a mess after he told them, "I make dinner, you play block table, don't get into anything..." Both River and Haruo nodded mutely...and crawled over to the block table, each picking up a block.

At this age, there was nothing untoward about River's glances towards Haruo, it was just innocent play. It was more an "I like you as a friend, will you play blocks with me?" sort of glance. Haruo was too busy gnawing on the blue block he had in his hand. River had a red triangle shape grasped within her hand and to Yasunobu, it was clear that the two of them were fast friends who would spend plenty of time with each other over the coming years.

...so Yasunobu went outside to put the dogs on the grill and watch over them as the two youngsters were consumed with play-time.

...and then it was just a matter of watching over the children until River's mother came home to take care of River.

"Hmmm, yes. Nice day. Maybe weather hold today, maybe tomorrow too..." Yasunobu said in halting English searching carefully for the proper words. An immigrant to the country, sixteen years of living in Canada hadn't removed an accent; nor would it as he'd come over as a young adult.

"I hope it stays this way. I wouldn't like having to go to work in the rain" she stated extending her hand for a shake, pausing for a moment before asking..."How is Har-u-oh doing?" iI'm not sure if that's the proper pronunciation...but...oh, close enough. /i Yasunobu hadn't named his son an easy name for a Westerner to pronounce, did he? But Fiona made her best attempt at it. She smiled at Haruo and he gave her a wide grin.

"Oh, Okay...doctor say he grow good?" He looked startled but nodded, "And your baby...uh...River?" he offered

Fiona thought to herself, that Yasunobu was a rather handsome man and he had nice dark brown eyes that were deep and expressive. And his toddler was absolutely adorable with his cute little button nose, she observed. "...my daughter..." "...my daughter..." she said with a sweep of her hand towards River sitting on the hardwood floor eyeing Yasunobu's son who was holding a blue wooden blocking. "Dr. Ellis says that she's doing fine." She inquired taking a look at the young toddler after grabbing some autumn salad from the fridge to hush her ravenous cravings for food since she had missed lunch.

"That's good. Eat well, grow up strong." Yasunobu grinned at her and Fiona felt a stirring within her. How the poor man had ended up with a snotty bitch of a wife, she would never know.

Fiona and Yasunobu were so engrossed in their conversation that neither noticed that River and Haruo were staring at each other intently, each holding their own blocks eyeing each other trying to figure out if the other one was friendly. After all, they would be living in the same house and being friends was the best way to have an amicable relationship under the same roof.

There were many things that the parents had to do once everyone was back home. This was all a part of parenting. One of them was giving the children basic skills that they would have to in order to grow up. Potty training, learning to walk, learning to talk, playing with blocks; and the xylophone; all of which were necessary to advance into a well-rounded individual.

Haruo was taught by his father to walk. "Haruo-kun. Ī ne... (that's good)" He smiled as Haruo tottered towards him with outstretched arms and held him as Haruo lost his balance and fell into his father's arms. Haruo looked up with wide eyes and Fiona felt an overwhelming sense of appreciation for a man that she knew was not available. What a pity, she thought. He takes care of his son in a way that Caeden never would have done for River.

Fiona did the same for her own daughter by sitting down with her on the hardwood floor and teaching her to talk. It was painstaking and repetitive work as her beloved daughter had a mind of her own and was easily distracted by other things going around her. Several hours would pass before River managed to be able to repeat back a few words and still more time would elapse until she was able to converse at a basic level appropriate for her age.

Mayumi on the other hand, got the stinky job of teaching Haruo how to go potty. Needless to say it was not a very pleasant experience as she had to clean out the potty as well after each time that Haruo had to go. Between that and having to fumigate the washroom every time that a training session happened did not make Mayumi a very happy camper or any less indisposed towards being mean to her son. Nothing made her happier than to heckle him or steal a lollipop from him.

Whatever she wasn't allowed to do to her school students she brought home and dished it out on Haruo. When she wasn't teaching him how to talk and letting him know how disappointed she was in the fact that he wasn't a genius; she made sure to let him know that he was smaller than her and that she could do anything that she wished to make his life absolutely miserable.

River, on the other hand, was absolutely furious, even though she didn't know what was going on between her best friend and his mother. Due to her age, she didn't yet understand family dynamics, but all she knew was that her best friend was miserable and that made her angry...

...and of course, it wasn't any better when Mayumi picked up Haruo and took him off to the bedroom, just so that she wouldn't have to hear him cry, shoving him in the crib and leaving him to scream and tantrum because he was being ignored. After all, Mayumi needed quiet and she was going to get it...one way or another.

Meanwhile Yasunobu made dinner which was spaghetti with veggie sauce owing to the fact that Fiona was a strict vegetarian and meat dishes made her feel ill. So Yasunobu did what he could to alleviate her discomfort by cooking vegetarian dishes on the side for her. And Fiona was working on her first book, a science fiction mystery which had her glued mostly to her laptop (author's note: yes, I know...back in those days, we didn't have laptops per se. We had big huge things that weren't easily portable from one place to another - just work with me here).

Unfortunately; though Yasunobu had hoped that the weather would hold out, in the morning it was clearly apparent that the sky had opened up and it was a downpour. On top of that the fog had moved in and the rain fell to wash over the town.

**Five Years Later**

"River, are you going to see Star Wars?" Haruo looked over at his friend as they stood in the rain at Central Park. It was a cloudy day and the downpour had totally drenched the both of them. 1977 had had an interesting passel of movies being released by Hollywood; George Lucas's grand space adventure being one of them. Haruo was itching to go see it since all his friends at school were talking about it.

"I don't know..." River replied; she understood Haruo's desire to go see the movie and she knew that Mayumi would gleefully prevent her son from going to see it since that was how Mayumi was. "It looks totally rad. You?"

"My mom says she's not letting me go." Haruo said looking frustrated. "She says I'll get scared of the bad guys."

"Man, your mom's a square!" River exclaimed, "Look, if my mom lets me go, I'll tell you all about it."

"i got the Scholastic book catalog the school gave out." Haruo gesticulated excitedly as he got a mischievous look on his face, "I gotta see if my dad will let me get one book from the Catalog."

"That would so cool..." River exclaimed, "you could get that Star Wars Picture Book." Haruo's face lit up in response to River's exclamation.

"Don't let her get to you..." River continued, with wisdom beyond her seven years of age, "I know she's a square and she gets on your nerves but y'know, we got eleven years and then we're adults and we can go see any movie we want then."

Haruo nodded as he knew she was right. They would be able to do a lot more when they were adults but it just seemed so long of a time between being seven years old and eighteen.

River impulsively pulled him into a hug. "Cheer up. Haruo...I'm your friend and I'm gonna be right beside you...all the time. So..if you have complaints about your mom, talk to me about it. OK?"

"Yeah." The two friends grinned at each other. It was summer holidays and River and Haruo spent as much time as they could playing together on the swings in the park and on the playground at the school before they would walk tired back to their respective houses to, in River's case to help with chores that a seven-year old could do and Haruo to a bout ten sheets of math problems. His mother was a real drag.

"Hey..." River suggested, "You wanna kick the soccer ball around or something?" Haruo nodded in response and they decided to go over to the soccer net.

"You be Graham Mosely, I'll be Bobby Lenarduzzi." Haruo suggested, "...and then we'll switch positions."

"I betcha, I'll make the stop..." River smirked at him.

"Yeah...sure..." Haruo said. "I betcha I can get the ball past you..."

No...he wasn't able to. By the time that the game was over...River had managed to score on him once and he hadn't been able to get one single ball past her into the net.

"Wow...you did good." Haruo exclaimed as he picked himself off the ground after barely managing to block yet another one of River's goal attempts. His fingers stung and man, she didn't kick that ball _like a girl_.

By the time they got home to their house, they were sweaty and tired. But River had homework that she had to do so she set about doing it.

There was nothing more boring than multiplication and addition tables, but well, that was how one learned back in 1977. Mimeographed sheets with blue ink that could potentially smear if it wasn't fully dry. And one could smell the ink used. It was a pungent odour that permeated the nostrils and that was the scent that told you that _you have homework_. But River being a diligent student sat at the table and no matter how boring it was, she put her effort into learning her addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tables. And the worksheet gradually filled up with carbon scoring as her pencil made lines and squiggles denoting numbers filling up the answers to the equations asked.

Haruo, on the other hand, having done his homework already lay on the bench and slept after a hard day of school and then playing soccer at the park.

...and that was where Mayumi found him stretched out on the bench in the backyard asleep. "Just what do you think you're doing?!" Mayumi screeched. "Don't you have any homework to do? Why are you being lazy and not doing your homework like..."

"I DID MY HOMEWORK!" Haruo snapped back.

"Don't you talk back like that at me...young man! I'm sure you're just lying to me. If your teacher didn't give you homework, I'll give you twenty sheets of equations that you can do...and you'll get that every night for a week until you learn to not talk back to your betters." Mayumi looked smug as she looked at him with her beady eyes. "No son of mine is going to lie to me." Haruo looked frustrated and angry as he had done his homework and the fact that he was being called a liar even when he was telling the truth made him angry beyond belief. "You can start your twenty pages of equations tomorrow but for now, you can sit on that chair on the porch and think about what you said and about your lying to me."

Haruo could only fume impotently as he stalked off to sit down in the chair and wish that his mother could disappear. When River got finished her homework, he defiantly got up out of his seat and walked over to the bench to sit with River. River could tell something was wrong with Haruo. "Your mom?" was all she asked.

"She thinks I've lied about doing my homework...and now I get to do twenty sheets of questions for a week...because she says that I talked back to her." Haruo aired his grievances about his mother to River who nodded patiently. River thought to herself that she was really starting to not like Haruo's mother. "River, I don't know how I'm going to put up with this for another twelve years..." Haruo frustratedly waved his hands and looked up to the sky. "It's like she hates me or something. It's not the twenty pages of questions...I have to do...but she's doing this so that I can't spend time with you." he looked over at her, anger on his face. "And she knows that I like to go to the park with you and everything. So she's trying to stop me from doing that. It's so unfair..." he said. "I don't think she even likes me."

River nodded as she stared at the grass and contemplated Haruo's words. "I know you did your homework at school because I saw you in the school library before we headed to the park, but the unfair part of it is that even if I tell her she won't believe me." And that simple fact made River hate Mayumi too. She was always picking on her son, if not heckling him; out right denigrating him for even breathing the same air as she had to stand in.

Trying to deal with this kind of harassment from his own mother would set anyone at the end of their rope and Haruo looked frustrated to the point where he was about to curl up in a ball and cry out of frustration. As a child of seven, he shouldn't have had to deal with this kind of behavior, especially out of his own mother. Mayumi wasn't fair and she had a chip on her shoulder and a focus for her negative behavior and River was sick of it. Even if she couldn't place a word on how she felt about Haruo as a friend, she was protective of him and only wanted him to be happy. It was a pity that his own mother couldn't feel the same way.

"I don't know what to do..." Haruo said...sounding half as if he was about ready to break-down and half like he was about to go nuclear. And River understood completely.

I'm your friend, Haruo...When you feel like this...talk to me." River said. "That way you don't get so ticked off." She said, "I can't do anything about the extra homework, but I can be someone you can talk to. We can sit here together and dream about what it would be like to travel the world and see different things. If we were able to do that. Where would you want to go?"

"...anywhere..." Haruo said, a hint of vehemence evident in his tone. "Anywhere away from here and away from my mother." River figured as much and Mayumi wasn't going to like the fact that she would be losing her meal-ticket. She sort of got the impression that Mayumi was just grooming Haruo in order to leech from him. She could see the distinct difference between how her mother treated her and Haruo's mother treated him. The difference was like night and day. Her mother treated her like the most precious thing in the world and Haruo's mother treated him like the dirt under her shoes.

But to get her friend's mind off that she said dreamily, "I'd want to go visit France and the Eiffel Tower." she paused, "That would be like a dream vacation, y'know. Being able to see everything that France has to offer."

Haruo nodded, even though he was more of a homebody, he thought about going sightseeing around the world. However he was more cautious about things. The only people he trusted in his life were his father, River and Fiona who behaved more like a mother should to him as well as to her own daughter.

It was hard to know what would happen in the future...let alone a few years from now, so they knew that they had to work hard to learn the basics of what would enable them to become functional, upstanding citizens in the future.

On other days, Haruo went swimming with River at the rec centre and it was nice to get in the cool water during the hot day. They splashed each other and challenged each other to breath holding contests which River usually won. The pool was nice on a hot day which served to cool them off. La Petite Shark Swimming Pool in town was a place to go if one wanted to go swimming and it was always fun to dive in and do laps of the pool. River would usually end up getting splashed in the face with pool-water by Haruo and River would playfully return the favour which always resulted in a water fight with more water getting splashed out of the pool and a reprimand by the pool safety monitor. And their breath holding contests were legendary insofar as length of time that River was able to hold her breath underwater. Nearly every time that they had an underwater breath holding contest, River won the match. Haruo always felt his lungs burning with the need for oxygen and he'd claw his way up to the surface, gasping for air when his face broke the surface.

...and it would be a very smug River McIrish that would break the surface, her hair drenched and a wide smile on her face, going, "I won..." and Haruo would gladly give his friend the win since his lungs were on fire.

Famished, they both would head for Hogan's Diner, a little Sunset Valley based family owned chain of restaurants, which resembled the very early stages of McDonald's in its inception almost thirty-seven years earlier. The proprietor Demetrius Hogan was reputed to have made his first million simoleons as a result of franchising his sit-down concept restaurant as opposed to the drive-ins that dotted the landscape of 70s North America.

After they ate, River and Haruo would have long conversations about what they were going to do the next day and made the most of every day that they had, whether it was summer holidays or whether it was during the school year. They would often do their homework outside of the school after classes in order to maximize the amount of time that they had together.

The Summer Festival was usually in full swing just after school let out so spending time at the festival together was a must do for both. If Haruo was lucky he would get enough simoleons to get a decent amount of food at the fair. And of course Fiona would give her daughter plenty to enjoy the day. Haruo never asked to borrow any but River, being the generous soul she was always bought him an extra meal so that he wouldn't go hungry.

Elementary school often was a hotbed for bullying and as one of only a few Asians in the school, he received a few mean glances as River always seemed to hang out with him by the swings offering them no opportunity to make their own introductions as River simply had no interest in any of them.

Worst of the delinquents was VJ Alvi who was more than happy to try to beat him up. So that's when Yasunobu decided to send him to martial arts classes. It certainly didn't do well for his son to always feel as though he wasn't able to defend himself.

Yasunobu was trying to develop a gardening business so he was not earning as much as the women in the house...and Mayumi made it a point of telling him so every single day. As usual Mayumi didn't care that her son was getting picked on and beaten up so she kept telling him what a spendthrift that Yasunobu was for wasting money on Haruo to take those martial arts lessons.

It didn't matter that he was keeping the household running by cooking dinner and making sure that everything was clean and on top of that trying to make sure that his business got up off the ground. No, for Mayumi, it was who was bringing in the greater number of simoleons and to her, since he couldn't match her teacher's salary, Yasunobu, for all intents and purposes was a financial eunuch.

So Yasunobu went ahead and headed to the bookstore and got gardening, cooking and handiness skillbooks so that he was able to do whatever he needed to do, all the while ignoring his shrew of a wife, who went and did as she wanted; haranguing anyone that she could get away with abusing.

The years went by and elementary school was left behind as high-school beckoned. Haruo and River started high-school at an eight-twelve high-school which mid-way during the year transitioned to a 1-12 format (not true in Canada in real life as the social dynamics between elementary school and junior high are far too great to intermingle the age groups) and Sunset Valley High School became Sunset Valley Combined Educational School. Their school had the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the walls of each classroom and well, "O Canada" was sung at assembly "O Canada, our home and native land, true patriot love in all our sons command" No, it was truly "sons command" no political correctness had invaded the land during the 80s.

VJ Alvi had tried his same old stunts again...to try and gain street cred with the new kids in the school who had joined them from the feeder schools to create his own little gang to terrorize the school and of course the kids were bigger and tougher. However that wasn't a good choice for VJ since Haruo had started training in kung fu; he was now a blue belt and those who had picked on him were loath to try it after seeing a rematch between Haruo and VJ and observing VJ get his rear end thoroughly beaten and handed to him. It had pretty much gone like this.

"Hey, whatchoo lookin' at..." VJ had mouthed off at him. "Do I have to turf ya again, eh?"

"Try it, VJ...and you'll measure your length in the dirt." Haruo had warned him.

"Kick your tail-feathers, man...chicken-shit." VJ scoffed as he strutted towards him with an attitude, fists balling up.

"Ya made of spare parts? Bud." Haruo taunted him. "You're so stupid you couldn't roll a tire down a hill."

"Nice hair...your father cut it with a bowl?"

"Haha...VJ...ya got more yaps than a Hong Kong telephone directory. Too bad your brain hasn't caught up with your mouth, eh."

VJ may have been good with his fists, but Haruo made him understand in no uncertain terms via physical reinforcement that he tired of VJ's bullshit. It was also a brutal warning to guys like Parker Langerak and Ethan Bunch that he was capable of putting those two on their asses should they attempt to try to start anything with him. It also had the added effect of nullifying the instances of anyone attempting to pick on him as they knew if they started something with Haruo; Haruo would end it.

VJ was in no mood to concede his loss after getting knocked on his ass and it took a brutal beating to teach him not to mess with Haruo ever again. . And Haruo, after enduring what he'd had to from VJ in elementary school was more than happy to meet him with fists bared and ready to teach him a lesson in pain.

River looked over at VJ, the guy was just asking for it, "You stupid or something? He knocked you on your tail-bone and you still want to fight him?"

"Yeah...he got in a couple lucky shots." VJ asserted, "He's not going to get another chance."

"Well, your funeral. eh? Hoser..." River told him.

It had to be said that VJ got in a couple good shots, but again it was all Haruo.

This fight was no martial arts demonstration, it was a brutal knockdown drag out fight. This was how disagreements were settled back in the 80s, no cops, no charges of assault, just a good ol'fashioned donnybrook. You ran your mouth, you got in a world of pain. And Haruo got a football tackle on VJ through the midsection, River thought, _I think he may have relocated a couple of VJ's ribs_.

...and it truly was a world of pain for VJ as Haruo grabbed him in a headlock and started applying pressure to his neck, as well as occasionally throwing punches at VJ's face with his dominant right hand each impact jarring VJ's head and brain cavity. The group of bystanders, all high-school kids, yelled and cheered everytime Haruo managed to deliver a teeth-rattling hit on VJ which due to being immobilized by a headlock was quite often.

And finished him off by executing a legsweep on him, whipping VJ's feet out from under him and sending him flat on his ass again. Dusting his palms off, he uttered, "Just lie there and bleed, VJ, you get up again, I'm gonna knock you out." he stated, no small amount of aggression in his voice.

VJ lay for a good long while before getting up and limping away, the jeers of the crowd following him like a chorus of harpies. River looked over at Haruo asking, "Are you all right?"

"Didn't want to do it..." Haruo admitted. "...but he just kept pushing...and pushing...so finally..." he trailed off.

River told him, "You did what you had to do, Haruo, If you didn't stand up to him here and now, he would have kept at it, making your life miserable. You taught him a lesson that you weren't going to take any more out of him."

"What did I do to deserve a friend like you, River?" Haruo said, softly pulling River into an embrace. She held him tight.

...and whispered in his ear. "I worry about you. the pent up anger that you have...your mom pushing you around, one of these days its going to explode and you need to learn how to control it before it starts to control you."

"Why?" Haruo asked, almost plaintively.

River looked at him, something unreadable in her eyes, "Because...I care..."


	3. Chapter Two - Life in Sunset Valley

Generation One

Chapter Two – A Long History

After the two fights with VJ Alvi and Haruo having decisively vanquished the lout, it was pretty clear to the rest of the school that Haruo was not someone to mess with. Especially after seeing VJ with bruised face, cuts, abrasions and two black eyes and VJ previously had a reputation for being one of the toughest kids in the school. To see VJ start something and then been handily trounced was a clear warning to other kids to not try to tangle with Haruo. So it was that Haruo was left alone by the other kids and River, Haruo's cousin Tarao and her other friend Bebe Hart were the only ones that would speak to him.

Uncle Satoshi, Yasunobu's brother; during the course of his travels, had fathered a son, Torao, who was now thirteen. Tarao had joined the Chikamori and McIrish families at the house in 1981 at eleven years old, after a long phone-call from Satoshi to Yasunobu about taking him on while Satoshi got his affairs together in order to come home from travelling the world. He had to clean up a few things that he'd gotten into while he was abroad namely a relationship from which he was extricating himself. The mother of his child had not wanted to continue the relationship and the matter of custody was being disputed. When that matter was cleared up, he would return from where he was located to join his son. The son was clearly Satoshi's get; which was apparent when the boy arrived at the house. His facial features were clearly a younger version of Satoshi.

Grade Eight was an interesting year as many of the older kids were graduating and each class went up a grade. After a few older kids learned painful lessons in not picking on Grade Eight students, he developed a reputation as an eighth grader to not mess with who more than willing to interject himself between an older bully and a weaker younger student. Academics, however, was a hard adjustment for Haruo and River and Haruo were more than happy when summer rolled around to spend summer holidays hanging out together just as they had in elementary school.

Freshman year, was an eye-opener with the classes getting harder and the learning being crammed into fifty minutes was quite intensive. And Haruo and River knew that it would get harder as the year went on. Both could be found in the library studying diligently for their surprise exams that the teachers were wont to surprise their students with. At least if they were ready for everything; they wouldn't get unpleasantly surprised by anything...unplanned...

...hopefully.

_Sunday June 25, 1985_

It was around the start of summer preceding sophomore year that Fiona's long-time friend Molly French moved into Fiona's house along with her four-year old daughter Sandi with Fiona's blessing and River found herself doing a lot of baby-sitting which seemed to affect just how much time she would have to hang out and do things with her friend of fifteen years but at least she was able to prioritize between summer holiday child minding and time with her friend. But it also sparked an immediate change of necessity that would not make Haruo or River very happy as the addition of two more members of the family made it so that the family had to sell their home. And as such, the children were caught in the thick of it. And that was why on Sunday, June 25, 1985, they were standing outside their home, now former home, moving van packed and ready and staring at the house they were leaving behind. In fact, it wasn't just Molly and Sandi French moving in, but yet one more member of a set of two family members who moved in on the Chikamori's side, as Satoshi had finally managed to clear up everything that he'd needed to abroad, coming back home to where his brother was. So Asilomar was getting far too crowded for them t continue to live there

One Month Previous – May 25, 1985

This revelation met with a large amount of resistance, naturally since Haruo enjoyed the fact that River and her mother lived with them and that immediacy of their access to each other in their friendship was what had facilitated the long-time closeness between the two now-teenagers. It was as though the two were inextricably linked in some metaphysical sense. It appeared as though the two would no longer be able to share the most convenient ability to be able to just knock on the door to her room in their house to see if the other was willing to hang out together and study or watch TV or to come to dinner. Depending on how far Haruo's parents and uncle decided was the location of the ideal home it could mean that he could potentially lose River to geographical restrictions on feasibility of holding on to their friendship. And that was not a palatable thought in the slightest.

The disclosure to the teens was a volatile situation and Haruo didn't take it as well as River. In fact he didn't want to move and told his father to nix the sale. But Yasunobu told him that the deal was already done and that they had to abide by the terms of the contract as drawn out in the Offer of Purchase. That didn't make Haruo happy in the slightest.

"But, Dad...how far are we going to be?" It wasn't like River was going to be far away from him, but they wouldn't have the immediacy of being able to just walk into the living room or knock on the door of her bedroom in order to talk with her. They would have separate suites in the new place. But Haruo felt that sense of loss.

River put her arms around Haruo in a hug to try to let him know that it would be alright, "Haruo...look we'll still be able to go to the park with each other and I'll always be _in your face_ if you ever need me to hang out with you. We're studying together every afternoon." she insisted. "It'll be OK..."

She could sense his resistance to the idea as he pulled away from her, a pang of hurt in her coming to the forefront as he pulled out of her embrace.

Look, River, I need to think this through. It's too much information at one time..." Haruo said, as he took a long deep breath, trying to calm his emotions, when he really wanted to put his fist through a wall. _Curse that VJ Alvi; he's never around when I need to beat on his face_. Haruo thought morosely. He could tell that River felt hurt, but his emotions were churning and he needed an outlet not her where he could vent ferociously and he didn't want it to be her that he vented it on. "I'm going to the gym." he said, as he abruptly by-passed her and walked away.

"I understand..." River said, not turning to face him, her heart throbbing in pain from the rejection of her attempt to comfort him; that she, herself, needed comfort; despite that, knowing that Haruo needed his space to think and come to terms with the sudden news about the sale of the house and the move to different confines. "Is he going to be alright with this?" River asked turning to her mom; a hint of misery in her voice.

"You know he's been like this whenever he gets news that he's uncomfortable with." Fiona felt her heart ache for her daughter. Her daughter was in love with Yasunobu's son and she hadn't come to grips with her own feelings. It'd been this way now for a couple years, Fiona had noticed her daughter's close ties to Yasunobu's son and the fact that her daughter felt for him deeply, but hadn't yet admitted it to herself.

Haruo finally returned home late that evening having kicked a kick-bag around at the gym and beating on the Muk Yang Jong and getting out his anger on the exercise machines, The frustration behind his anger was the idea that it appeared as though the two would no longer be able to share the most convenient ability to be able to just knock on the door to her room in their house to see if the other was willing to hang out together and study or watch TV or to come to dinner. Depending on how far Haruo's parents and uncle decided was the location of the ideal home it could mean that he could potentially lose River to geographical restrictions on feasibility of holding on to their friendship. And that was not a palatable thought in the slightest.

River had to understand her best friend's reticence to such a move so River told him that they were going out to the festival at Central Park and that they would take the opportunity to talk to each other to come to an understanding as to each of their positions in regards to the move.

"I know this idea of a move is eating you up..." River started, not wanting to start a verbal argument.

Haruo let out a deep sigh of frustration then admitted, "It's not the move in itself..." he said shortly. He let out an irritable snort waving his hand, "It's just the bloody way that Dad let me know about this whole thing..." he couldn't admit it to himself that he had feelings towards River; she was his best friend in the world and he'd heard too many stories about being let down when a person opened up to their best friend and got stuck in what was now known as the friend-zone. Better to keep his feelings to himself and let things keep going as they were, "...that, oh we're moving...in one month, and that we're off to someplace new, like nothing mattered as far as what we wanted."

"But you know that we can't stay at that place...as much as the memories that we have there are concerned. It's just too small of a place..." River tried to rationalize it.

"I know, Haruo, it's a shock." she continued, "But it's not like it's the end of the world."

"Well, it very well could be..." Haruo huffed. River resisted the urge to laugh; it wouldn't go over well, and Haruo was being ridiculous, but she knew that he felt secure in their currrent home and the fact that he was now being uprooted from a situation where he was comfortable in was causing him pain and uncertainty. She thought to herself, _When he sticks his roots in to someplace, he sticks them deep and doesn't like being uprooted and relocated somewhere else_.

As they sat and looked at the festival lot going up for opening next day, Haruo sighed and said, "I wish that we could have stayed at that place forever. I would have felt better that way."

River resisted the urge to put her arms around him, to call him, _sweetheart_ and contented herself with sitting quietly beside him just saying softly, "I know..."

After this summer would be their sophomore year, the transition point between being considered a junior high schooler and transitioning into senior high school for their junior and senior years; the last two years of secondary school; it was said that the majority of students had to look towards their potential career aspirations. This was the point in life where they were going to pick their road they planned to travel in their future endeavors and that was going to involve much soul-searching. Haruo on the other hand was having major school problems with comprehension of maths. His ability to do redundant home-work was very low and he struggled with the subject. So it was with some trepidation that he would enter his sophomore year in the fall of 1985 with a determination to work hard no matter what his mother had to say about his personal study habits.

In the month preceding the move, Haruo and River spent as much time with each other as they could, whether it was down at Central Park watching the fish swimming around in the pond; bogarting an apple or a lime from the trees in the park. Or hanging around the food kiosks during the seasonal festivals in the park. After all there were lots of things that needed doing but for the teens, being together was what assuaged any apprehensions that either had of Haruo's impending move. Studying together also helped. Just the mere physical closeness was comforting to each other.

What Haruo hadn't realized months earlier was that Yasunobu had keeping his eyes open around the area and he'd noticed a by the sudden appearance of an "in development" sign on the property next door. – a triplex just next door, a perfect solution to their space problems. And while the adults in Haruo's family considered the possibility of an easy move to a house under construction;

Unbeknownst to Haruo and River and to Haruo's mother's ever increasing ire, Yasunobu had conversed with Fiona and he had offered to go hand in hand with the purchase of what was now known as the starting of a new triplex which was to be built on that next door vacant lot. The Chikamoris would attempt to locate a bridge mortgage based on Yasunobu and Fiona putting their current property up for sale to cover the down payment on the lot and construction next door and that she would be able to be a cosigner with equal responsibility on that mortgage insuring that the mortgage payments were made on time. It had been agreed at the bank that each of their savings would be debited exactly one-half of the monthly mortgage payment amount. And each had equal responsibility to cover the other half should the other have a bad month. It almost seemed as though the Chikamori and McIrish families were now financially inter-meshed as well as having their children being the best of friends. But it seemed natural to both Fiona and Yasunobu to consider this option and initiate that plan as their children were so close that they both felt it would be traumatic to both of then to split them up. And both Yasunobu and Fiona refused any scenario that would split Haruo and River up.

Fiona and Yasunobu's discussion centered around how they wanted to keep Haruo and River together since their two only children had been friends for so long and that it made sense to move to a home that would allow them some privacy, yet keep the children close by to each other. The situation required a delicate touch and that they needed to look into that triplex and find a third party who would be interested in such a building. It meant seriously talking to Fiona's friends, the Harts to see if they would consider taking on a third of the mortgage and taking the third suite, thus keeping the building within friends. Yasunobu didn't know the Harts very well, however he did know that Haruo and River both knew Bebe and she'd occasionally come over to the Asilomar as a child to play with Haruo and River. Bebe was older than Haruo and River and she would be going into Junior Year in the fall. Again, she was also an only child and as such, the three of them could potentially study together. What he didn't know was that Satoshi's son, Torao was sweet on Bebe already.

Satoshi, good ol' Uncle Satoshi, was Yasunobu's younger brother and a world traveller, explorer and a restless spirit but he had gradually come to the realization that age was not on his side; planning on setting down his roots and what better place to do it than Sunset Valley near a member of his family. It was hoped by the adult members of his family that Satoshi's roving days were over and that all things considered he would settle down and start earning a regular pay-cheque and not be just a bohemian vagabond. It wasn't just that he was feeling his age but that he really had the unpleasant epiphany: at age fifty-one that he had reached midlife; that his eldest brother was fifty-three and had a son who was fifteen as did Satoshi himself after getting into a relationship with someone who didn't pan out as a permanent partner and who had divested him of half his life-savings. They had actually spent ten years in what was a common-law relationship traveling the world together. If anything it had impressed upon him the rapid advance of the diminishing years before him and the rapidly increasing number of years that had passed him by. Satoshi could no longer afford to be carefree about his life just going from country to country experiencing the uniqueness of every culture. It was time, Satoshi thought as he stood staring out at the trees that lined the lot and pondered just exactly what the future would hold for him.

On top of that, having travelled to many corners of the globe; he was full of stories to tell those who would lend an ear and River just loved listening to the tales of Satoshi's adventures as she hoped to travel herself. River had that restless spirit about her that she wanted nothing more than to explore the world, but running a close second was the love of her family and the want of someone to share her life with and to raise that family that she wanted.

Despite the illusory appearance on the exterior face of Asilomar being large size; making extra bedrooms with the current layout as it stood; was an exercise in futility. Trying to design a layout for them to move around in was not feasible. Either the bedrooms became too small and/or they would have to extend out; building in a number of structural features to the building that would completely change the exterior destroying the modern look that it had and turning it into a garish caricature of its original self. The ultimate decision was to sell the home and find a new place to live.

Sunday June 25, 1985

"We've had a good run at this place, haven't we?" Fiona looked over at Yasunobu, who turned around to see her and nodded. He was getting much better with the English colloquialisms as the years went by.

"Yes...long time..." he stated as they both looked at each other. The memories of River and Haruo growing up here, marking off the height-changes on a section of the wall reserved for such things and it was going to be hard to leave those memories. For Yasunobu this was not a happy change as he'd watched Haruo and River grow from infancy to teen-age years in this very house, but the situation had changed and such they had to .

Mayumi was scowling at the house. She'd never really liked the place and it had gotten more and more cramped as more people showed up. Molly and her rugrat were the final straw. She'd shrilly insisted that they sell the place and move into something more amenable to her. She'd be damned if they had to live another single second in a place without any form of privacy. She wanted her space and by God, she was going to get it come hell or high water.

So the equity that was built up by Yasunobu and Fiona in the house had to go into buying a new property and re-investing. Unfortunately all that came with a move. And River and Haruo were not happy about that since they had to uproot themselves. Luckily the property that they found was not too far away from the old one. However the memories that their parents had built up would be just that, memories with no tangible evidence of the years that they'd spent at this home.

Haruo and River were now taller at fifteen years old and River, as most females of that age, were filling out and were growing at a much faster rate than their male counterparts. And feelings best not acted upon were coursing through their veins so they continued their own platonic facade of stating to each other that they were just friends who iived in the same house together. And each silently looked at the other wishing that they could be more than just friends but keeping their silence as they didn't want their hearts broken if the other didn't feel the same way. For River and Haruo, the year seemed to drag on endlessly: school exam, assignments, pop quizzes, mid-terms...more school exams.

In January, all eyes were glued to the television sets in horror as the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger ended in disaster when the shuttle exploded seventy-three seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, killing the entire crew.

Their Junior year was full of hard work as they now were looking forward to Senior Year and the freedom that graduation would bring them. Haruo and River were hard-working and they studied together as much as they could. It seemed as though each year got faster and faster as the years progressed.

Such was the way things went throughout River and Haruo's junior year. Junior year was intense as it set them up to endure the intensity that would be their senior year which in turn would prepare them for post-secondary education. And Fiona and Yasunobu both hoped that River and Haruo would go on to get higher education, going to University; preferably Simon Fraser University or the University of British Columbia. Yasunobu had been working class all his life and his aspiration was to see his son go to university.

So that meant evenings for River and Haruo were spent at either friend's place sitting down and cracking the books then maybe getting about an hour to watch TV before one of them ha to go home. If River was the one needing to walk home Haruo made sure to walk with her up to her door then make the solo trip in reverse back home. And Haruo did relish the fact that they were able to spend these moments together in any case.

He tried to make heads or tails of those feelings. River was a good friend; his longest friend in terms of duration of time together and it seemed as if whenever he was having an existential crisis or as his teenage mind termed it, a stretch of rough times, she was always there to back him up. And he knew that soon their senior year would start. And after that would be graduation and the start of walking alone through life as each would have their own life to lead. River had often spoke of travelling the world but Haruo was a homebody content to do whatever his interest was at the time.

All he knew was that the thought of being apart from his best friend frightened him. They had been a part of each other's life for so long and it was so easy to talk with her because she had known him since both of them were knee-high to a grasshopper.

But they still had one year left and only time would tell...

Summer holiday after Junior year was quite relaxing. The second the bell rang after final class in the first week of June was quite liberating if it weren't for British Columbia final exams. Bummer. Of course it was a major buzzkill but there was really only two weeks of scheduled exams and anyways after finals were over they would be free to do whatever it was that they wanted to do which was go to the rec center and go swimming most oft-times. Sometimes they would go hiking in the back-woods and go over to Pinochle Pond and hang out watching the birds and other animals. It was a peaceful interlude in an otherwise hectic year with school.

The sun beat down out of a blue cloudless sky and the temperature rise was noticeable as Haruo and River decided to make their way over to the Sunset Valley rec center to go swimming later on in the day but first they wanted to spend some time at Pinochle Pond. They would get a burger or something over at Hogan's after then wait an hour doing something at Central Park before hitting the pool.

The temperature was on its way to 28 Celsius today and it was not a day where you wanted to end up dehydrated. So both carried water with them as they hiked up the trail leading to Pinochle Pond. And as they approached the pond, they felt a slightly cooling breeze coming off the surface of the pond.

"This looks like a quiet place to sit.." River stated as she found a nice patch of grass and sat down looking out at the calm water, the only motion on the pond being a few ripples stirred up by the light breeze. "Haruo, come sit beside me..." she motioned him over to sit down beside her and he complied.

Haruo looked out at the pond. Lately restrictions by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans made it difficult to even do a child's longtime activity in the past of going out to the lake, fishing pole in hand, a bucket of worms and drop a line in the water to see if one could catch a rainbow trout for dinner. Coughing up thirty-six simoleons for an annual fishing license and then getting smacked with conservation surcharges on top of that for fishing rainbow trout and non-tidal water salmon.

Anyone under sixteen could fish without an annual fishing license, but the second they turned sixteen you had to get one though of course you had a three-year grace period before the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada had you by the short and curlies telling you to cough up or else.

Making sure they were always on the right side of the law meant that as seventeen year olds, River and Haruo didn't fish so they didn't run afoul of the fish and game wardens that frequently made checks of the areas that held bodies of water. So Haruo and River just opted to sit and enjoy their morning together by the pond.

The pond was the very epitome of the term pristine wilderness. Trees and shrubbery grew around the circumference of the pond naturally, not cut back at any rate by human hands. In this wilderness lay dangers as well. Cougars were well-known to stalk these parts though River maintained that it was probably too close to civilization for the skittish felines to come close but an encounter with one of them could prove fatal.

River by this time knew one of the reasons why Haruo was quick to agree to go with her to the park or frankly anywhere. His relationship with his mother was not good at all. In fact to cap it off, Haruo's mother was manipulative, narcissistic and abusive. On occasion his mother's mask of civility would slip and she would observe just how Haruo was treated by his mother. River knew the days when Mayumi would go off on her son because Haruo would show up to walk to school haggard, tired, with dark circles under his eyes denoting lack of sleep and jumpy. But River also knew that Mayumi in the strategic belittlement and psychological battering of her son wouldn't lay a finger on him. Why? Because she knew that one mark on Haruo's body; one bruise, one cut; the tiniest piece of evidence left behind and her carefully constructed house of cards would collapse.

Mayumi was too smart to lay a finger on him (belittled, subjected to minimalization of any concerns that he had, name-calling, threatening, isolation if he didn't do what Mayumi wanted, waking him up at two in the morning to scream at him about something that only Mayumi was concerned about; never though, a finger laid on him), but he was ripe...oh so ripe for open rebellion. And it was just uncertain about what form that rebellion would take place or whether it would involve more than just hateful looks directed towards his mother and her abuses but yet there were the cultural mores of being the obedient son and never talking back to his elder or treating her ill in return. He and his father both were the long-suffering types - suffer in silence.

Mayumi, herself, could only be described as a "seething ball of hate". She didn't like anyone or anything and the most that could be said of her was: it was wise to not cross her. If anything could be said that described just how vitriolic Mayumi was, it was whispered around Sunset Valley that even Vita Alto, the town's defacto evil hag, was slightly afraid of what Mayumi Chikamori could do. Completely narcissistic, vengeful, self-serving and hateful were some of the more colourful nouns used to descripe Mayumi. River could barely stomach the thought of anyone having married that witch; least of all, Haruo's poor father. And she would never forgive Mayumi for the way that she treated Haruo. River surprised herself with how protective she felt of her long-time friend. They were just friends... weren't they?

...or was there something more than that. After all no matter what went on in River's life, one thing could always be counted on, the one true constant in her life was Haruo. It seemed from the moment River and he had met, that their friendship had grown and upon deep introspection, River cherished that closeness with her friend of fifteen years. When he was with her, everything was right with the world.

Sunset Valley was a little municipality bordered on two sides by Tsawwassen one side by the Canadian-US border and by the Pacific Ocean on the West Side which Redwood Parkway over-looked.

The waterfront homes along Redwood Parkway were worth millions; especially to the foreign investors looking to make Vancouver their own personal stomping ground and leisure resort which didn't make Haruo and River. all too happy as it would make it much more difficult for them to buy a home for the future. Summrrhill Court in Summerhill Heights bordering Delta was the ultra rich neighbourhood in the municipality of Sunset Valley and had their own jurisdictional police force with Delta Police assisting when necessary.

It was a nice house that had been constructed. It was a side by side triplex, three floors, three bedrooms on the second floor and a relatively unfinished third floor with the exception of Fiona's having one bedroom on the third floor and Yasunobu's having two meaning that each unit had technically three bedrooms apiece plus the extra in Fiona's and Yasunobu's suites and those bedrooms were necessary for enough room in the house for additional occupants such as an increasing family. It was well worth the §108K they had paid for the lot value, but unfortunately that meant that it was going to take a lot of work to pay for the taxes involved. It had taken a lot more for the land improvements; almost as much as what they'd paid for the empty lot.

When Yasunobu informed the McIrish family of his intent to sell their mutual home and move to the duplex; they knew that it was a stepping stone to further enhancing both their financial situations and with Molly paying rent for living with her, the additional income would allow Fiona to meet her half of the mortgage commitment. And it would be well worth it. No more scrambling at overtime to try to meet the mortgage payments ever since Molly had moved in and they were securely in the new house. Secondly, Fiona was enjoyed having their own private place to live in. Molly worked at the local Hogan's Diner. After all when one provides victuals on a budget to increase profit margin, the quality of ingredients tends to suffer. But at least she had a full forty hours a week as a pastry chef and paid a good amount to keep her roof over her head. Fiona was secure in her position as an investigative reporter. She got a full forty hours a week and extra if she covered community events. Also she was able to use her off-time to write freelance articles and earn extra cash. It had been a good acquisition but mostly for the comfort factor. This was a house that didn't have a history. It was their house to build a family in. And mostly it was equity that River and Haruo could use to propel themselves on their way to becoming their own success stories.

With seventeen years under their belts, Yasunobu knew that River and Haruo were close as friends could be and oft-wondered if something else was at play. After all; Haruo and River had been playmates since the time that they could crawl and it was well known that where one was, the other was usually soon to follow and a duplex seemed like the perfect answer to both River and Haruo as they would be in their senior year in the fall of 1987. Yasunobu thought wistfully Was it really that long ago that the two of them were toddlers? His son was growing older and ready to fly the coop - he would be a young adult soon. It gave each of the families their own little bit of privacy, yet River and Haruo could hang out and do their homework together - people after all were saying that River and Haruo were joined at the hip, colloquially speaking (to the ever increasing ire of Ethan Bunch and Parker Langerak who had their own designs on River McIrish).

Yasunobu looked up at the sky and smiled. With senior year approaching for his son and his long-time friend, this fall would be chaos.

"Yasubo! Rokudemonai musuko wa doko ichata-ka? Where is that no-good son!" A shrill voice penetrated his thoughts like a drill pushing through a piece of gypsum board as he winced. What the hell was that harpy going on about now? "Mata, sono kitane yariman to issho ni pondo te itta ne. Again, he must have gone together to the pond with that dirty slut!" Mayumi spat derogatively.

Yasunobu winced again. He wasn't sure of how to deal with his wife and how disdainful she was of their son and his friend. "Hontōni sono yōna gengo o shiyō suruka? Are you really going to use that kind of language?" He asked, a sharp note of censure in his tone of voice. But it was more than abundantly clear that Mayumi had no small amount of disdain for her son.

" hnnn, Boku no musuko wa yakunitatanai. Kare wa nani ni mo naranai... my son is useless, he won't ever amount to anything." Mayumi scoffed as she turned to go back into the house. Over her shoulder she called out "Kare to sono yakunitatanai gomi ga modotte kitara, yarubeki sūgaku no mondai ronbun ga ju-go-mai aru - when he and that useless piece of garbage get back, tell him I have fifteen sheets of math problems for him to do!" She scoffed over her shoulder.

"shitsureina kusobaabaa!" Yasunobu muttered sharply under his breath. Why he ever put up with that hag, he'd never know.

Pinochle Pond

River was revelling in her friend's nearness as they both sat close to each other. When they'd first started going to high school she noticed others hooking up and getting dates but nothing other than her studies interested her. She had a plan for her life that involved a lot of traveling and that would require a lot of money if she was going to travel on a regular basis. She was good with the brush and could craft a compelling story weaving words that left her classmates spellbound. She could see herself traveling the world armed with a paintbrush, canvases, pen and pad and earn a decent living from each. Maybe travel articles and paintings from France, China and Egypt. They were all the rage as far as travel was concerned and to be able to capture some of the sights that were available to the senses was more than reason enough to go.

"Have you ever thought about what you're going to do once you graduate?"

Haruo was startled out of his blissful contemplation of the water ripples on the surface of the pond as River's question broke into his quiet reverie. He shifted his position slightly so as to not lose his balance and fall against her even if he was in a seated position. Turning to look at her he responded cautiously, "With all the schoolwork that we've had, I really haven't had much time to think about it." He turned back to staring at the pond for a long moment of silence. It was so long that River thought he'd forgotten her question. "I'm thinking about writing as a career with maybe a side into gardening like Dad when he's not busy at his business career." He finished.

Those were homebody types of careers River thought as she continued to lock her gaze on him. To her it seemed as though he felt most comfortable at home...even if his mother was a Grade A bitch of the rankest odour. She hoped however for his sake that he managed to get clear of his mother's claws.

"Have you thought about your plans after high school?" Was the return question to her and River smiled softly thinking inwards.

"I want to do the same thing that your uncle did, travel the world, see the Louvre, walk the trails over the Swiss Alps, see the Northern Lights in Aurora Skies, go to Tokyo and visit Al Simhara and the Pyramids." She paused, her eyes shining with anticipation at her future plans, She sat on the ground, and stretched her legs out again.

Haruo gave her an indulgent look nodding as if to say _go on_ and she did.

"There's so many things I want to do, to climb Machu Picchu. And visit the old Inca ruins. To explore the salt flats in Bolivia. To go to Seoul and experience the feeling of what its like to eat authentic Korean cuisine."

"...everything, eh?" Haruo said looking at her, "it looks like you've got your future planned out better than me. You should do all that." He encouraged her.

River looked into his eyes, and saw that despite his encouraging words that there was a lingering sadness in his eyes.

"I hope I can make a career out of being a writer." Haruo sighed looking up at the trees and intertwining the fingers of his left and right hands behind his head as he lay back on the grass looking up at the sky. He let out a deep breath. "My mom seems to think that writing is a dead end job." He paused exhaling in frustration. "She wants me to become a teacher like her. I have no passion for teaching and I want to blaze my own path." He let out an exasperated sigh.

River thought to herself, _Writing is a dead-end job? Then why are there people making a living out of being writers? Mayumi is so full of shit it's a wonder she doesn't have a whole squadron of bot-flies hanging around her from the stench. She wouldn't know how to really motivate somebody even if she learned directly from the guy who played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket_. It was a wonder how Mayumi could treat her own son this way. River had received nothing but encouragement from her mother when she had informed Fiona of her intent to travel and potentially become a travel writer traveling the world and writing about new exotic places. But Haruo had no one to encourage him.

Then she had a crazy idea. Shang Sim La had a kung fu school and if Haruo came with her he could train there, writing articles on kung fu, maybe write a story, somewhere away from his mother's toxic influence. Allow him to break free of his mother's clutches. And _it would give me a chance to stay in Shang Sim La too to take pictures, paint landscapes and...and.._, she enthused silently, looking over at her friend who was silently still staring up at the sky. _I'd be able to see him thrive away from that bitch of a mother_ River thought to herself surprising herself as to how possessive and protective she sounded.

"You know maybe we should head back and get some lunch." Haruo looked over at his digital watch, a Casio A159W, which he'd managed to get for a Christmas present from his Uncle Satoshi. He showed her the time on the display. It read 11:27 if they walked they'd get into town about one in the afternoon. By then Molly would be reporting in for work at Hogan's. Hogan's Diner was the local greasy spoon which had franchised across the Lower Mainland; the menu options being slightly better fare than McDonald's on the edibility scale. The edibility tended to vary widely at the Sunset Valley Hogan's generally depending on who was manning the grill from edible and rather tasty when Molly was manning the line cook position to near heave-inducing when Jared Frio was at the helm of the grill station (considering Jared Frio's cooking skills - he seemed to spend more of his time improving OTHER skills).

But they say, beggars can't be choosers, and frankly, as long as there wasn't a cloud of flies emanating from the restaurant anytime one opened the door, the fare, if it didn't kill you, at least was filling.

"i think so too..." River concurred. To tell the truth she felt a bit hungry and her stomach was letting her know that if she didn't feed it in a reasonable amount of time she would regret not paying it any mind. Walking would keep her mind off the situation but eventually it would come to having to mollify her stomach. Maybe she could think of what to get on the walk with Haruo.

They both set out leaving Pinochle Pond behind. It had been their go-to place for many years. And River felt at peace there when the both of them would come up to the pond.

Walking across the fields brought them to Landgraab Ave which they would take all the way down past the SVPD station and past City Hall. It was a long walk in the heat but the anticipation at biting into a juicy delicious triple-stacked cheese burger and a tall cold glass of Pepsi was a dreamy prospect -thank goodness for high metabolism.

They were exhausted and sweaty by the time they reached Hogan's. Molly greeted them with a cheery "Hi, River; Hi Haruo..." from her station at the grill. River ordered the triple stacked cheeseburger heavy on the cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Haruo went with the triple stacked cheesy mushroom which the photo on the menu board showed it practically over-flowing with mushrooms. They both ordered a large Pepsi. This might take a while to digest, River thought to herself. At least the Sunset Valley Summer Festival was in town with roller-skating, a soccer field where one could take shots on the other and the slurpee machines were free in any case. Just in case they got overheated while playing shoot on goal.

The contemplation was interrupted by the server calling out their order number and like Pavlov's dogs, their mouths started to water. The cheeseburgers were large and dripping with greasy flavor; the triple burger patties slightly smoky from the grill-top. They were in burger heaven. River and Haruo were absolutely famished.

"Great burger, eh?" Haruo said between mouthfuls.

River nodded, her mouth full of juicy ground beef patties. The fries to the side looked crispy golden brown and gave off a fried potato aroma with a hint of sea-salt. And it tasted oh-so good. She giggled a bit as Haruo bit into his burger, rolled his eyes upwards and gave a look of absolute bliss. "What?" She asked when she could get the words out after swallowing her burger bite.

"Mmmm-mush-rooms" Haruo had a glazed look on his eyes, a blissful expression and a giddy smile plastered across his face as he gazed dreamily up at the ceiling of the restaurant. River cracked up laughing.

Even with the hilarity, they were both able to finish their lunch before six thirty though of course they would more than likely have to wait two hours before going into the water. There really wasn't anything that said there was any harm in going into the water without waiting but they figured that waiting two hours was worth it to not have to contend with a muscle spasm while swimming. Besides, eating a large meal meant that their stomachs would be digesting for a while.

Two Hours Later, 24hr Wellness Center, 221 Landgraab Avenue

River slipped into her bathing suit at the fitness centre women's changing room. She had also took a quick shower in order to clean the sweat off before slipping into the pool.

Likewise Haruo was doing the same. After playing soccer shootout, he was sweating. Pulling on his swimming trunks, he glanced in the mirror and grinned. His kung fu practices had honed his muscles making them wiry and flexible enough to make an explosive dragon claw counter punch -the last time he used that technique it made VJ Alvi measure his own length in the mud of the school football field knocked out cold. VJ left him alone after that; presumably after seeing Ursa Major rotate around his head a few dozen times.

Haruo was limber and his toned martial arts trained body was fit, he noted. He wasn't big, nor was his intention to get huge like Lee Haney who won the 86 Mr Olympia and was enroute to quite possibly winning again in 1987.

He flexed at the mirror and then walked out. The pool was a rectangular shaped one and uniformly deep. Most who went into the pool dog-paddled to keep afloat.

"Haruo!" River called to him.

And Haruo responded with a warm smile as she walked over to him and looked him over; her eyes halting her inspection of his torso at the level of his bare chest, an admiring look as she noted his wiry muscles.

River gazed at him appreciatively. "You look good." She assessed him seeing the wiry muscles that years of kung fu training had given him as he dropped into a kung fu pose grinning resembling a crouching dragon. She marveled at the easy way he was able to assume the position and the natural way his arms and hands seemed to position themselves into a dragons claws ready to lash out.

She'd seen him in grade eight put a grade eleven student on the ground with two moves: a lashing palm strike that whipped the student's head back and a spinning foot sweep kicking the student's legs out from under him. And that was for the student pushing a grade eight student head first into the door of a locker. That junior class-man had deserved everything he'd gotten. And now they had been the juniors and going into their senior year with graduation just around the corner and uncertain job prospects. They would have to make their way and hope that they struck opportunities at the right moment.

But all that would wait as their only goal right now was to go swimming. "Cannon-ball!" Haruo charged for the pool...risking getting an admonition from the life-guards at the rec center. "Last one in the pool is a rotten egg..." River playfully taunted as she took a step off the edge of the poolside and into the water, submerging completely before rising to the surface treading water favoring him with an impish grin, her sodden hair contouring to the shape of her head, her eyes twinkling in merriment, rivulets of pool-water streaming down her face.

River wasn't fast enough as Haruo hit the water scant seconds before she jumped in.

Coming back up he saw her looking at him again with a look that appeared as though she was appraising him. "Like what you see?" He asked jokingly while treading water himself.

"Mmm-hmmm..." River responded, nodding her head as she swam closer to him inadvertently brushing her torso against his sending an electric charge coursing through his body as he had to quite remember to breathe. They'd flirted before but more as a joke.

"Wanna have a breath-holding contest?" Haruo asked River, trying to break up the intimate tension that had suddenly filled the air. However it was uncomfortably clear that his longtime friend was maturing into a young woman and as a young man, Haruo did react quite noticeably to that. He groaned softly, inaudibly. He wasn't going to be able to get out of the pool for a while as he was clearly interested in River.

"Yeah...how many times has it been? 25-0?" River grinned at him. "You want to make it twenty six to zip?"

"Yeah, right, McIrish...enough with the trash-talking; let's do this..."

Sinking to the bottom of the pool, they held their breaths for as long as possible. Haruo could barely stand it...and his lungs were burning from holding in his breath for such a long while. Searching for River with his foot, he used his toes to tickle her thigh. That did it. She emitted a large stream of bubbles from her mouth as she exhaled her breath and shot for the surface. Breaking the surface she looked down at him and protested, "That's cheating, you tickled me and made me lose!"

Haruo grinned at her, "No, I didn't..." Her pout was adorable. But she would get him back, when they got tired of swimming...and decided to rest by poolside on the recliners. Leaning back, Haruo sighed as he looked up at the ceiling of the rec center two floors above the pool when all of a sudden a torso blocked his vision to replace it with an exquisite vision. He looked up to see River straddling him with an evil grin on her face...yes, payback was a... That was all he could contemplate before he noted her very close proximity to his own torso.

Oh, she knew just how uncomfortable she was making him and she had him pinned like a butterfly to a specimen board. "Say you cheated..." she smirked at him.

"No..." he grinned up at her. "Not gonna say it..." he resisted.

"Guess I'm going to have to make you really uncomfortable..." she said moving herself closer to him, if there was any daylight between the two of them, it couldn't readily be seen. Haruo could feel her body heat as she leaned in really close and whispered, "You are going to say you cheated..." she grinned at him, putting her hands on the sides of his head and coaxing him up from the back of the recliner.

Haruo's mind fled; _God, she's beautiful... _For Haruo, it was a lost cause, "Anything you say, River..." he acquiesced.

Two Hours Later

Emerging from the pool, Haruo noticed his friend lying on the poolside recliner looking out at the pool smiling. "Think we should start heading back?" He asked her.

"Yeah. But I want to get something quick for the walk back." She answered him with a smile. "Meet you by the counter after showering off?"

"Sounds good to me. Think the fair kiosks are open?"

"It's nine-thirty; they usually close by nine. We may end up having to eat at Hogan's again" River answered his query as she headed off to the women's change rooms.

River, while taking her swimsuit off and diving into the shower to wash the chlorine out of her hair and off her body, smiled to herself as she recalled Haruo's reaction to her closing the distance in the pool with him and brushing up against him had made him respond as though he'd been zapped by an electric charge. It was harmless flirting after all. By this time she was washing the lather out of her hair ensuring that it was squeaky clean of harsh chemicals from the pool and putting another palm full of shampoo for a second wash to make doubly sure.

Innocent flirting was just that, wasn't it!? She pondered as she finished her ablutions. But lately doubts about the innocence of their interactions as long-time friends were starting to creep into her mind. They'd been together for so long that it didn't seem natural to not have him around. And that she wasn't sure if travel itself could ever replace a friend who was always there for her. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that traveling alone wouldn't replace the want of life companion.

And maybe those little innocent flirtations with him were just masking a desire for something greater than friendship. River sighed, frustrated as she finished up and toweled herself off changing back into street clothes.

Maybe time would tell, but she had already started thinking of Haruo as something more than just her longtime friend and she wondered if he had ever thought of her in that same way. But the thought of unrequited affection put a damper on that thought very quickly.

But that seed, despite all efforts to stamp it out, would sit there all through the summer; through the move from her home and into the duplex and their senior year, germinating into a hope for the future.


End file.
